Then thought David in his heart, "I may perish, one day or other, by the hands of Saul. There is no better for me, than to flee into the land of the Philistines; that Saul, of very despair to find me, may cease to seek me anymore in all the coasts of Israel: for so I may escape his hand."

And David arose, and he and the six hundred men that were with him went unto Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath.

And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, both he and his men, every man with his household; and David with his two wives: Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail, Nabal's wife of Carmel.

And when it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath, he sought no more for him.

And David said unto Achish, "If I have found grace in thine eyes, let me have a place in some town in the fields, that I may dwell there. For what should thy servant dwell in the head city of the kingdom with thee?"

Then Achish gave him Ziklag the same day; for which cause Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day.

And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines, was a year and four months.

And David and his men went and ran upon the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites: which nations were from the beginning the inhabiters of the land, as men go to Shur, and so forth to Egypt.

And David smote the land and left neither man nor woman alive, and took the sheep, the oxen, the asses, camels, and clothes, and removed and came to Achish.

And Achish said, "Have ye not been a roving this day?" And David answered, "Yes, in the south of Judah, and in the south of the Jezreelites, and in the south of the Kenites."

But David let neither man nor woman come living unto Gath, and thought, "They might peradventure speak, and report against us, 'Thus did David.'" And this was his manner as long as he dwelt in the land of the Philistines.

And Achish believed David, saying, "He hath made himself to stink unto his people Israel, and thereto he shall be my servant forever."